According to the reports published by the Australian Government, the country is experiencing a national skills shortage of builders, engineers, traders, nurses, teachers and chefs. This shortage in skills is affecting business growth in Australia with new research finding that Small to Medium Businesses (SMEs) cannot find the right staff to grow their company. To fill in the current skill gap, many businesses are employing skilled migrants particularly in the field of IT, Nursing, Healthcare and Transport.
Skills shortage in Australia developed due to major spendings on economic infrastructure and engineering construction projects. Till today the demand was met through domestic graduates, but since then Australia has been unable to produce enough trained professionals to meet workforce demand.
According to Engineers Australia’s research, overseas-born engineers represented 51.3% of the engineering labour force in 2011, a significant increase from the 2006 census figure of 46%. Average annual growth in employment for the overseas-born engineering labour force has been 7.9% over recent years, three times average annual growth in employment for the Australian born engineering labour force (2.5 per cent).
Following are 3 industries that are currently experiencing skill shortages, and are poised to undergo huge growth in coming years.
Engineering- Australia’s demand for engineers far exceeds its supply of graduates. Every year, 15,000 plus engineering positions need to be filled. Only 20% of these positions are filled by Australian Universities, leaving the rest to be hired from overseas.
Healthcare and aged care- Australia’s healthcare industry has seen enormous growth over the past years as a result of its ageing population and the growing investment in mental health services. Over the next few decades, no market will see better growth in Australia than health and age care services as health expenditure per person is projected to be more than double over the next 40 years. The number of Australians aged 65 and over is also predicted to increase. Demand for nursing roles is also expected to grow in line with ageing population.
Education and Training- Australia is experiencing an undersupply of teachers qualified to teach mathematics and science. According to recent findings, the international education sector is Australia’s 4th largest export earner, creating approximately 100,000 jobs.
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